St Manchan’s Shrine Pandora’s box

St. Manchán mac Silláin who lived in Scotland, died in the year 664. After this unique storage box was created for his relics.

St Manchan’s Shrine

This tent-shaped reliquary now preserved at Boher Catholic Church contains bones from St Manchan.

It was made in 1130 at Clonmacnoise and is approximately 5 times larger than most shrines. It was originally decorated with about 50 to 52 full length human figures, possibly modeled on a cross between the Hiberno-Norse and the Romanesque styles.

The shrine as depicted in the Harry Clarke window

Only 11 of those figures now remain.

Controversy surrounds the symbolism of the figures – one source suggests they represent warriors with axes and sticks, while a recent paper identified the figure holding an axe as depicting Saint Olaf of Norway.

Crosses have been found in the vicinity of the monastery.

I call this box Pandora’s box.

In Greek mythology, Pandora (Greek: Πανδώρα, derived from πᾶν, pān, i.e. “all” and δῶρον, dōron, i.e. “gift”, thus “the all-endowed”, “the all-gifted” or “the all-giving”) was the first human woman created by the gods, specifically by Hephaestus and Athena on the instructions of Zeus.

Pandora (1861) by Pierre Loison (1816–1886)

As Hesiod related it, each god helped create her by giving her unique gifts. Zeus ordered Hephaestus to mold her out of earth as part of the punishment of humanity for Prometheus’ theft of the secret of fire, and all the gods joined in offering her “seductive gifts”. Her other name—inscribed against her figure on a white-ground kylix in the British Museum—is Anesidora, “she who sends up gifts” (up implying “from below” within the earth).

This box was stolen, but then he returned to his church, here’s the video.

Perhaps St. Manchán is best known for the shrine containing his relics, now preserved in the Catholic Church at Boher, County Offaly. The shrine was created in 1130 at Clonmacnoise and still contains some of the saint’s remains. It is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque metalwork.

Box set Romanesque style of the era. Inspired by the symbolism of the Scandinavian peoples, though most likely the peoples of Ireland and Scotland were the Scandinavians Vikings common historical roots and the common ancestors.